It has been so long since I ate at Gallagher's. I used to go for their lamb chops and never tried their steaks. But it was many, many years ago...This place has been around since 1927, so you would think that they probably are making great steaks. So, let's see!
Going to Gallagher's you immediately notice their dry-aged room at the entrance. It surely makes you salivate to see all these pieces of meat!
Gallagher's serves meat dry-aged for 21 days. The dry aging process consists in keeping the meat for some days at a near freezing temperature to enhance the flavor and make the meat tender.
What is interesting is that the place does not look like a steakhouse: no dimmed light, no dark wood and no leather! It has an European feel; the kind of place where you would have an Oktoberfest...
Although their signature dish is the New York Strip, I decided to order the ribeye.Ribeye is my favorite piece of beef: it has this nice and strong flavor, especially when you are closer to the bone. I ordered it medium that is pink in the center. When it arrived, I immediately noticed the nice char. The meat was perfectly cooked, flavorful and tender. However, it was not as good as the ribeye I ate at Dino & Harry in Hoboken or Ruth's Chris in New York.
For the sides, we had onion rings.
As well as creamed spinach.
The sides were disappointing: the creamed spinach had an off taste; the cream was too thin and it was as if the spinach sat in the cream for too long, giving a green-ish color to it (should be green and white from the cream), but worse of all, eliminating any flavor from the cream. The onion rings, although not greasy, were overcooked.
For dessert, I was lucky to try three desserts:
The Key Lime Pie:
Good, not too sweet, but the Graham Cracker crust should have been more buttery.
The Cheesecake:
It was pretty good with a nice density and a bit of creaminess.
The Apple pie with vanilla ice cream:
It looked messy, was not good at all and had a weird taste! To be avoided!
The meal was just ok for me. There are so many great steakhouses in New York (The Old Homestead, Ruth's Chris), that I will pass next time...
Enjoy!